Ep.210: Tim Smits, CWNevada & Adam Bierman, MedMen

Ep.210: Tim Smits, CWNevada & Adam Bierman, MedMen

Tim Smits joins us and at the top admits to being a suit. Furthermore, Tim shares that none of his friends would believe that he would be in the cannabis industry based on the way that he was raised. He takes us back to initially doing menial work for his fathers business getting paid less and doing more. He essentially gives a mini-masters class on business administration. Tim goes on to share how his upbringing as an entrepreneur perfectly shaped him for his career in cannabis where everything costs more and takes longer than you think. But Adam Bierman first joins us and readily admits he’s also a suit. He takes us through his philosophy and how and why he’s ok with the fact that he’s considered an industry contrarian.

Transcript:

Speaker 1: Tim Smits, Bierman Tim Smits joins us in at the top admits to being a suit. Furthermore, Tim shares that none of his friends would believe that he would be in cannabis based on the way that he was raised. He takes us back to initially doing menial work for his father's business, getting paid less and doing more. He essentially gives us a mini masters class on business administration. Kim goes onto share how his upbringing as an entrepreneur perfectly shaped him for his career in cannabis where everything costs more and takes longer than you think, but Adam Bierman first joint doesn't readily admits he's also a Sudi. Takes us through his philosophy and how and why he's okay with the fact that he's considered an industry contrarian. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends in the word economy. Industry suits Tim Smith's and Adam Bierman. Enjoy Adam Bierman Med

Speaker 3: men. We think you're from la, but it's so much more than that. In how many geographies are you operating? Well, we currently have exposure into six markets, uh, including Canada. Six markets including Canada. Yes. Those being California, Colorado, Nevada. No, Colorado. Oh, no calories. No, he's not know about my whole thesis that we don't play in places like Colorado. Tell us why you would one would think that you would definitely be there. So

Speaker 4: we,

Speaker 3: we focus on what we call supply constrained, high barrier to entry markets with limited licenses and large addressable populations. So there is really not one of those boxes that a place like Colorado would be able to check off shore. So, um, in comparison to Colorado with over 2000 licenses for a very small population, a very low barrier to entry. If you look at a, a place like Nevada where we're sitting here in Las Vegas today, um, you know, Nevada issued as an example. I'm stay at 60 retail licenses for the state of Nevada to address a total population including tourism over 40 million people. Um, so that's more your speed that, that, that's our deal. So a high barrier to entry supply constrained, limited licenses, large addressable population, so you won't see us in Oregon or Colorado or Washington for that matter. California's a little bit nuanced.

Speaker 3: Um, we play in California very big, um, but we look at California like its own country and the municipalities like their own states. So we're selecting to participate, uh, and get exposure in the municipalities that act in that same manner. Supply constraint, hybrid entry, large dressable populations. The biggest one obviously being the city of Los Angeles. So we have a lot of exposure in la. Um, there are, there will be two measures on the march ballot, but regardless of what happens in the city of La, there will be limited licenses to address a very large population. So we are running the opportunity fund, which is 100 million dollar fund. I would say more than half of that fund is being allocated just to Los Angeles. January first 2018 is when everything kicks in. You're talking about march of 2017, march of 2017. There were two ballot initiatives in the city of La to refine what is now property property is limited immunity for those operating in good standing, but not actual licenses, so as of March, that will change and be updated in one way, shape or form and licenses will be granted to a limited amount of these businesses operating in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3: And you have dispensary's we do, we have, again, we have exposure into La and the plan is more than half of half of our fund will end up in La. So, um, we, we are very proud of the retail that we have in Los Angeles. We're very excited about a $13,000,000 project in desert hot springs that we're building, um, that will manufacturer a and we will be able to distribute through those retail outlets in southern California. So California is the whole kit and caboodle, right? One would just have to be a minimally successful in California to be usually successful in the world. So we were looking at California with a new market, you know, reckoned medical combined at full stabilization. We, we, we think it's an $8,000,000,000 plus opportunity, so a lot of focus on California and obviously a lot of focus on la. What's the key to operating retail and southern California?

Speaker 3: I think it's, I don't think it's specific to southern California. I think for us the key to operating any of these businesses to operate them as if they were a normal business and that's going to be so contradictory to probably so many people you have on your show talking about the nuances of cannabis and tax law and you know, hiring qualified people and stigma and reputational risk and all the rest of that. But not for us. I mean, we look at this and it's got to be run like a normal business. It's big, you know, big agriculture, big manufacturing, you know, big box retail. That's how we look at it. At the end of the day, you know, those are those disciplines. Um, you know, they've been refined over many, many decades and you know, and perfected and systemized and you know, there's no reason not to try to recreate the wheel and there's no reason to try to recreate the wheel, I should say, um, you know, when you talk about retail, we get comparisons of our stores to other big box stores and we don't like to go there.

Speaker 1: Tim Smits, Bierman Tim Smits joins us in at the top admits to being a suit. Furthermore, Tim shares that none of his friends would believe that he would be in cannabis based on the way that he was raised. He takes us back to initially doing menial work for his father's business, getting paid less and doing more. He essentially gives us a mini masters class on business administration. Kim goes onto share how his upbringing as an entrepreneur perfectly shaped him for his career in cannabis where everything costs more and takes longer than you think, but Adam Bierman first joint doesn't readily admits he's also a Sudi. Takes us through his philosophy and how and why he's okay with the fact that he's considered an industry contrarian. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends in the word economy. Industry suits Tim Smith's and Adam Bierman. Enjoy Adam Bierman Med

Speaker 3: men. We think you're from la, but it's so much more than that. In how many geographies are you operating? Well, we currently have exposure into six markets, uh, including Canada. Six markets including Canada. Yes. Those being California, Colorado, Nevada. No, Colorado. Oh, no calories. No, he's not know about my whole thesis that we don't play in places like Colorado. Tell us why you would one would think that you would definitely be there. So

Speaker 4: we,

Speaker 3: we focus on what we call supply constrained, high barrier to entry markets with limited licenses and large addressable populations. So there is really not one of those boxes that a place like Colorado would be able to check off shore. So, um, in comparison to Colorado with over 2000 licenses for a very small population, a very low barrier to entry. If you look at a, a place like Nevada where we're sitting here in Las Vegas today, um, you know, Nevada issued as an example. I'm stay at 60 retail licenses for the state of Nevada to address a total population including tourism over 40 million people. Um, so that's more your speed that, that, that's our deal. So a high barrier to entry supply constrained, limited licenses, large addressable population, so you won't see us in Oregon or Colorado or Washington for that matter. California's a little bit nuanced.

Speaker 3: Um, we play in California very big, um, but we look at California like its own country and the municipalities like their own states. So we're selecting to participate, uh, and get exposure in the municipalities that act in that same manner. Supply constraint, hybrid entry, large dressable populations. The biggest one obviously being the city of Los Angeles. So we have a lot of exposure in la. Um, there are, there will be two measures on the march ballot, but regardless of what happens in the city of La, there will be limited licenses to address a very large population. So we are running the opportunity fund, which is 100 million dollar fund. I would say more than half of that fund is being allocated just to Los Angeles. January first 2018 is when everything kicks in. You're talking about march of 2017, march of 2017. There were two ballot initiatives in the city of La to refine what is now property property is limited immunity for those operating in good standing, but not actual licenses, so as of March, that will change and be updated in one way, shape or form and licenses will be granted to a limited amount of these businesses operating in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3: And you have dispensary's we do, we have, again, we have exposure into La and the plan is more than half of half of our fund will end up in La. So, um, we, we are very proud of the retail that we have in Los Angeles. We're very excited about a $13,000,000 project in desert hot springs that we're building, um, that will manufacturer a and we will be able to distribute through those retail outlets in southern California. So California is the whole kit and caboodle, right? One would just have to be a minimally successful in California to be usually successful in the world. So we were looking at California with a new market, you know, reckoned medical combined at full stabilization. We, we, we think it's an $8,000,000,000 plus opportunity, so a lot of focus on California and obviously a lot of focus on la. What's the key to operating retail and southern California?

Speaker 3: I think it's, I don't think it's specific to southern California. I think for us the key to operating any of these businesses to operate them as if they were a normal business and that's going to be so contradictory to probably so many people you have on your show talking about the nuances of cannabis and tax law and you know, hiring qualified people and stigma and reputational risk and all the rest of that. But not for us. I mean, we look at this and it's got to be run like a normal business. It's big, you know, big agriculture, big manufacturing, you know, big box retail. That's how we look at it. At the end of the day, you know, those are those disciplines. Um, you know, they've been refined over many, many decades and you know, and perfected and systemized and you know, there's no reason not to try to recreate the wheel and there's no reason to try to recreate the wheel, I should say, um, you know, when you talk about retail, we get comparisons of our stores to other big box stores and we don't like to go there.

Speaker 3: We'd like to just say, look, we're trying to maximize per person average and the way to do that is to give to them to be comfortable and spend as much time in the store with as least amount of pressure as possible with very informed, educated staff that can help them make decisions as they walked through a well constructed, you know, a layout that allows them to spend their time and spend their money happily, um, and get the experience they need to come back. It's pretty simple. Um, I don't see any reason why, why one would look to do something any different because it's cannabis versus selling phones or you know, books or clothing or anything else for that matter. So you, you mentioned it might be contrary, it's probably contrary to most folks that we have on that. That brings us to you, Adam, as, as a contrarian voice.

Speaker 3: Is that something that you think that you are contrarian? Does that, does that read with you? You know, I think it's, they have a specific voice is basically what I'm saying. It's been an interesting, um, an interesting existence within the space from the day that I entered it, you know, we really started looking at it in 2009, but we really got in commercially 2010. Um, and, you know, we came in, we weren't from this industry. We made no apologies about the fact that we weren't legacy participants that have been around growing the plant up in the Emerald Triangle for 25 years. Um, you know, we were suits and you know, we look at this like, you know, commerce and this is an opportunity and an explosive high growth industry. Um, and there was just no reason to make excuses about it. I think, you know, probably have caught flack for that over over the years, but at the same time, I mean, the facts are the facts.

Speaker 3: This is whatever the number is, 50 billion plus market in the US. Um, you know, to think that this market's going to develop and then be operated and controlled by, you know, those people, those legacy participants because they don't evolve I think is just, um, it's foolish. And so, yeah, you can call it contrary and if you want, I just call it, you know, common sense. Um, I think it's highly unfortunate that the collateral damage of the evolution of our industry for the most part is going to be those legacy participants that don't evolve. And I think for just saying that I catch a lot of flack, but you know, like it or not, it's very hard to disagree with it. I'm at the end of the day, I use the term institutionalization all the time. This will, this industry will be institutionalized. I'm, and I hope that, you know, those people that are part of the reason that we're here today, that, you know, fought the fight and ran the businesses when there were still fear of going to jail that took that risk, that, you know, believed in the plant. I would hope that a large piece of, of that kind of legacy participation evolves as well and, and finds a role for themselves in the future. And for those that don't evolve, um, like those that were fighting against prop 64 in California. And I think for maybe the most basic reason is the fear of what does it mean if this goes back and becomes more institutional? Where is my place? You know, that that's the unfortunate sad reality of, you know, of the collateral damage that is done as this business evolve. So,

Speaker 5: and some folks would say in, in opposition to prop 64 that they had specific issues with specific language within the, you know, written a ballot measure and, and that was their opposition. Uh, other folks would say that it's more general, like, like what you're saying, you were one of the first suits you mentioned that you called yourself a suit. More and more we're seeing a suits and enter the space. Uh, what are your thoughts as an initial suit seeing all these other suits come on in.

Speaker 3: That's great. You know, again, I'm getting back to common sense logic now. You know, stripping all of the emotion and feelings out of it for a second. It's common sense. Money, money follows, money, money, money follows opportunity and what, you know, this is the fastest growing industry in the country and that's all I have. I mean, that's all one has to say. That's one all one has to say, but I do want you to add the emotion back in and, and talk about cannabis as medicine. Talk about your exposure to patients. Talk about, you know, you as an advocate, uh, in the space of folks. Understand that side of, of how you see it. Well, I mean, there's two pieces of it and very rarely do I get asked the personal piece because most, like most of the time I care about, um, I mean on the personal side, it's, you know, I'm a, I'm a huge advocate of, of the legalization of cannabis.

Speaker 3: I'm a cannabis user myself. Um, I don't think that I would be half alive if it wasn't for cannabis and that's not fully joking. That is, you know, realistically it's a pretty high stress situation that I find myself in, in life, uh, flying around the world, sleep deprived, uh, two young kids at home when I get home screaming at me needing my attention and time and, you know, as you mentioned earlier, how many businesses are we currently running trying to run this whole thing in this very volatile kind of environment. And you know, without cannabis, I don't know if I would sleep or I don't know if my mind would slow down and I'm, you know, I'm a huge fan. I have a brother who has crohn's disease, um, and you know, the medical efficacy of this is no longer something, you know, worth arguing if you're going to just be a logical fact base, you know, person, I'm the medical efficacy is there.

Speaker 3: Um, so I think that, you know, on a personal basis, not just for the medical purposes, but also the social justice piece. It's again, it's not worth arguing. This should be legal professionally on the advocacy side, you know, I think it's really important that we all stay true to who we are and be honest about that and not try to be something we're not just for the purpose of how it might play in the public. And so, you know, for me professionally, you know, I think I'm probably a one of the, one of the people at the front of the line saying, hey, I don't really care if you believe in the social justice piece. I don't really care if you believe, you know, in the medical efficacy, I don't care about any of it. If you're going to be in this business, you better be supporting the movement because at the end of the day, without the people that are really driving that movement, changing laws, you don't have a business.

Speaker 3: Um, you know, and I think, you know, with our pledge for growth program that we launched with marijuana policy project, I'm trying to get people in the industry to understand that now you can sit there and your sandbox, uh, all you want, but if you're not supporting growth, then you're just supporting death. What? Talk about the, the MPP, a piece, you know, because that's something that, uh, you've been doing for now a little bit, right? With rob. I'm a big Rob Kampia supporter. Sure. Anybody who's listening that has a stake in this industry and is not giving something to marijuana policy project. I'm shaming you over sets podcasts right now. The marijuana policy project changes all the state laws and without the state laws changing, we don't have new territories to go get into. We can't scale our business. So, um, we've been, we've been supporters of marijuana policy project publicly for about two years now.

Speaker 3: Um, I have something actually that isn't really public knowledge and I'll share in a second, but as far as pledged for growth goes, it was something we launched about two years ago, um, and we were the first people to sign up for it saying, Hey, well we'll donate a percentage of our revenue, uh, to marijuana policy project to support that growth. While many folks have signed up, I don't know, we'd have to ask MPP. They run it, we support it. Um, but the other thing that we've done, which is, which I'm pretty proud of, um, and it was, you know, uh, not, not, not against, not that it wasn't against, you know, the uh, uh, urgings of our legal team when we did it. But we did it anyways, is that when we launched our opportunity fund, which is the first nine figure private equity funds in the space.

Speaker 3: I'm in our fund documents that actually says that we're giving one percent of all of the money. We draw down MPP. So for those that can't do the quick math, that's a million dollars, you know. So, you know, rob's running around the country. He scratching and clawing and trying to raise the money he needs to go change the laws. And if you look at what happened last Tuesday, they did a pretty good job, right? A pretty damn good job. Um, you know, amazing job. And then what's next? You know, you talk about the fact that Florida happening at 71 percent and you know, you talk about Texas and what would happen in Texas. You talk about legalization and places like Illinois and Potentially York and so much more work to be done to ride this momentum. They need money. Um, and you know, I think my hope is first and foremost selfishly that by us, you know, contributing in the manner in which we're contributing.

Speaker 3: We're creating a bigger future for ourselves because first and foremost we have, you know, uh, we, we have to take care of ourselves and our investors. That's, that's why we wake up from a business perspective. But secondarily, I would hope that others want to follow our lead. Whether they did they see what we're doing and they find the value in it and they say, hey, we want to do that. To where they see what we're doing and go, well, wait a second, if we're not also doing that, what does that make us look like? I don't really care what motivates them. At the end of the day, this conversation about somebody giving $5,000, I'm yet to generating x amount of revenue. It's ridiculous. Um, you know, I think the conversation about people giving $100,000, that's great. That's a great start. But guess what med is giving a million dollars and we'll launch a second fund sometime next year and we'll make a similar commitment and the fund will be much larger.

Speaker 3: So I think, you know, I'm looking forward to being the outspoken person running around saying if you're in business, you better be giving money to expand our industry. Okay. I feel like that is well said. And uh, I hope that others join you as far as those new states are concerned. You know, you mentioned Florida at 71 percent. That's ridiculous. Nothing gets 71 percent. We always say, of course the cannabis gets more votes than you, whether you're republican or a Democrat, but Montana, you know, a Arkansas. From your perspective as you try to expand the map, as you say, a w, W, w, how surprised are you that those states are, you know, on, on the board now and what do you think that means as far as timeline? As far as patients access? As far as business, I'm not surprised that they're on the board.

Speaker 3: You're not surprised that they want. No. Interesting. Well, I think if you asked rob if he was surprised that they want, he would say no as well. I think if you had asked the people, and it's not because I'm sitting there in the room doing the work. I got marijuana policy pressures doing the work. I'm just getting the information, but they were hopeful for for Arkansas I think is what it was. Well you'd have to ask them, but you know the, the answer to all of this, this, this didn't happen last week. This didn't happen last month. That's exactly. Now these are 20 year plans that, you know, manifest themselves over a long period of time and it feels like things are inevitable now and it feels like things happen overnight, but that's absolutely not the case. So I think using the word surprised I think would be discounting the realness of it all right.

Speaker 3: You know, I mean if you asked rob, uh, you know, how he feels about a place pick a place, he would say, well, when we started that seven years ago, exactly. And you know, we did it with grassroots and then we partner with these people and then this person got elected and then we supported them. I mean this is, this is, that's how this goes. This is how law has changed. So, you know, I don't, I don't think I'm surprised. I think that I'm proud. I think that I'm excited. I think that it proves that this industry is on fire. I think it proves the viability of the industry. I think that, you know, I, I would like to see more and more and I'm seeing this people stop asking the question of what happens if this all gets reversed. Um, I've been saying the cat is out of the bag and there's no way to put it back, right?

Speaker 3: You know, for a couple of years now. But hopefully with California falling, um, hopefully with, you know, southern Bible Belt, you know, states like you're talking about falling. Hopefully those questions subside because I think those questions are the next impediment if getting over those questions gets us to our next place when it comes to investability in the industry. And then back to my word, institutionalizing the space, which is what ultimately protects us. What ultimately protects this space is having, you know, big players with big money largely invested, you know, seeing the returns because guess what, they're going to protect it. There are the people with the political connectivity, you know, at the end of the day, that's just the world we live in. Um, whether we like it or not. And so I think that, you know, breaking down those walls. And, and, and, you know, opening up those markets, those very strategic markets.

Speaker 3: Sure. Um, I think it's so important and such an exciting time for the space you say, and I can't wait until we're not talking about, you know, what if it all gets brought back, but it is true that a new administration, this new administration with the voices that it has at attorney general potentially at attorney general can literally just kind of withdraw the coal memos. And then where are we your thought. Let me make sure I understand your point of view. If we know that that can be done, what makes you so sure that it won't happen? Well, I wish I had a crystal ball because I wouldn't be on this podcast already downstairs in the casino and then I have enough money to do whatever I can give $2,000,000 to be paid more. Um, you know, I think I just look at everything from a common sense perspective and just, you know, common sense, you're right, a legally there, there are options for people to do certain things.

Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, Colorado is a state that was in the red, I mean, this was a state that was teetering on bankruptcy that is now so far in the black that they're, you know, having tax holidays and deciding what to do with their, you know, with too much money. Uh, so, you know, I think there's a practical piece of this, how, how, how do you, how do you turn that back? How do you, you're going to go have a blowout fight with an entire state, uh, and try to take that state and put them back to a bad place when they're in a good place. How do you unwind that, you know, how do you go ahead and pick those kinds of fights? Not only with a place like Colorado, but we're sitting here in Vegas when a place like Nevada, which just passed recreational marijuana, has had medical marijuana in the books for over a decade.

Speaker 3: It's just recent that they have a commercial program, but medical marijuana has been here for the actual history and look at the people that are participating. These are big time people that contribute on a, in a very meaningful fashion to politics, you know, here locally and at the state level and they have very large stake. So how do you come in and reverse all of that and I'm sure there are people that don't care about pissing other people off and that's fine, but there's a practical piece to this too. Right? And I think that, you know, practically I have yet to be presented with an argument as to how you would, you know, reverse what's going on. The only argument that I've heard that makes any sense is that, you know, hey, potentially slows down, you know, full federal legalization, um, because, you know, that's something where we're lobbying congress and that's NCIA and marijuana policy project, you know, commend them and people should give money to them as we do.

Speaker 3: Um, and you know, they've been working very hard at this for a very long time and you know, what does it do to them? I don't know. I haven't spoken with Erin at Ncia or rob at Mpp about it yet, but they have very big plans federally. And does it, does it impede those plans? Does it slow those down a little bit, that all three branches of government are now controlled by Republicans, I don't know, and isn't really the end of the world for me and my business, you know, outside of to ade. I don't wake up every day and, and, and overly concerned myself with the status federally of, of marijuana. I concern myself about our opportunities in each market now to 80 egoing way is really important. At the same time, you know, and I don't follow presidential politics the same way I follow pop politics, but I think there's a lot of talk about, you know, overhauling, know tax reform.

Speaker 3: And so, you know, if tax reform is going to happen, I would hope that there's a way to, is a part of that. So, you know, I think that's a, a more complicated conversation for a smarter person than myself that does that for a living. But on a state by state basis, when you say, you know, how do I don't have a crystal ball, but I have a lot of confidence. We're deploying $100,000,000, probably completely deployed by q one of next year. That's a pretty sizable bed. That means we must feel pretty strong about what we're doing. Sure. So you, we've talked about the word surprised. You did mention you don't follow a presidential politics the same way you fall apart. Politics, your words. I do wonder, were you surprised with the outcome of the presidential election and what do you think that that means for, you know, your, your patient base across the country?

Speaker 3: In other words, this was pretty shocking to every single person on earth. I would imagine. It was pretty shocking to you to who? I think, you know, we, I was in a similar spot to a lot of people that worked for me that day. We came to the office the next day and some people had taken days off and I think it was confusion, right? I think I was in a similar spot to a lot of the people around me, you know, I think it was just shock who, who predicted that a and now you're talking personal, not professional because professional, I have a whole different opinion on the outcome, but, you know, personally it was just confusion. I like to think that I can try to figure out and guess as to what things mean. And that night I just couldn't put the pieces together. Um, and, and that, that, that was hard.

Speaker 3: I, I didn't sleep very much that night. And then, you know, business wise, I got shocked and woken up the next morning. Twofold. Two things happen. One thing was we started getting blown up by investors in a good way, which was very surprising, uh, but at the whole thing was surprising and there was actually almost like a renewed confidence in the fact that there was stability to their money and that they wanted to go deploy it, which was weird. Uh, but, you know, there were investors that we had been having discussions with for a matter of months that called the next morning and said, hey, you know, we're ready to go as if they were waiting to, to pending the outcome. So, you know, that was, that's interesting. That was, that was, uh, that was very interesting. The second thing that happened, which was unfortunate for our industry, um, and, you know, it's, it's a little bit sad because it's, it's good when good people that fight good fights that when you get recognition was, you know, the next day there was, there was nothing about our.

Speaker 3: When, I mean, there was, I, I fully predicted and would have told the world, hey, nobody's going to care the next day that Hillary Clinton got elected, but everybody will care. The California legalized pot alongside Florida and the other states that did, uh, and I didn't, I didn't see one story about it. Um, and I think that was the other piece of what happened was unfortunately, our stuff kind of got pushed to the back of golf, you know, and that, that was unfortunate. Uh, but I'm sure that will right itself over time. Yeah. Do you, uh, I've been thinking that it's, it's pretty terrible that uh, no matter which half you know, you are actually, there's three halves aren't there. There's the half of the people, actual half of the people that didn't vote, there's the 25 percent of the people that would have voted for the one candidate, the other 25 percent of the people that voted for the other candidate.

Speaker 3: None of those three halves, if you will talk to each other, talk to each other after. No, they. In other words, we are a country that doesn't understand each other. Got It. We don't understand if, if, if I have a particular point of view, I don't understand the half that didn't vote. I don't understand the other 25 percent have voted without me. Obviously, you know, the election was a reflection on, you know, on our nation as a whole. Right. And I think that's, that's a whole nother conversation. I think from a, you know, from a cannabis perspective, the thing that I feel good about is I think for those people that I know that voted for trump and those people that I know that voted for Hillary, um, you know, they, at least in California, they all voted for pot. That's all right. So it's exactly.

Speaker 3: Now again, I know pop politics better than presidential, but you know, I have friends in law enforcement and they voted for trump and you know, I have friends and colleagues that work for us and obviously our industry as a whole is very left leaning and they voted for Hillary and, and at the end of the tape, but they all went to the ballot box and they all voted for prop 64. So we can feel good about that. I think the industry in California is left leaning. I don't think the industry on the whole is left leaning just based on the people that I've spoken to in my roughly 200 interviews. But I will give you a three final questions. I'll tell you what they are and then Alaska them in order. What has most surprised you in cannabis? What has most surprised you in life?

Speaker 3: And on the soundtrack of Aaron and Adam Beerman's life name one track, one song that's got to be on there. But first things first, what has most surprised you in cannabis? And as you reflect on that, my very good friend also has crones, just like your brother. Um, and it is shocking to me the relief that cannabis gives him. So, uh, I will say that, but, uh, it's your question, what has most surprised you in cannabis? I think what's, I guess to this day still continues to surprise me in cannabis, but it's also just, you know, I guess part of the reality of our world and people in our world, um, is that still, that still, that hesitation people have to come participate. That continues to surprise me when I showed up day one said I'm going to get into this industry and I got to go figure it out and I'm going to go meet with everybody and learn what I can.

Speaker 3: And I looked around and there was nobody corporate, um, in the space at that time, you know, there was nobody that, you know, you could pluck out of here and go stick into a fortune 100 company and say you're the CFO or you're the CEO or you're the coo, or you're the cmo or anything for that matter. I didn't run across anybody that fit that bill. Um, and the fact that, that was six, seven years ago now, seven years ago, and even now we're here at this conference and I don't know how many, thousands upon $8,000, 6,000 or some crazy number right now are here. You know, the fact is that those guys are those, those people are here, but they're just not in yet. And that continues to surprise me. It's also my anxiety. It's also why I need to smoke cannabis at night to go to bed because otherwise my mind won't stop, is that, you know, my push, my drive, you know, for us in our businesses is one day they will be here and when they be here, we better be ready.

Speaker 3: Right? We better be positioned for them to come participate with us, partner with us, you know, by us, or we better be better, be able to award them off, right? We better be big enough and bad enough to do that. So, you know, that continues to surprise me like California just legalized pot. Uh, and you know, there's still hesitation. We still have no institutional funds participating in the space. And then for those that are listening that, you know, don't. And I didn't have this information but you know, 10, 11 months ago and I got introduced to, it wasn't something that I ever knew about, but you know, there are these big funds and they have 30, 40, $50,000,000,000 under management and they have spinoffs. They call them a opportunity funds or special situation funds. And there's smaller in air quotes. It's funny to our industry when a smaller fund is a $5,000,000,000 fund, but that's what they're made for.

Speaker 3: They're made for special situations, special opportunities to take advantage of risk adjusted crazy returns. And that's what this space is and they're still not in yet. So that continues to surprise me one day, you know, you'll be interviewing, and it might be tomorrow, it might be in two months, it might be in two years, you'll be sitting here interviewing somebody that runs a $5,000,000,000 special situation fund that's a spinoff of Apollo, and he'll be talking about the fact that they're the first guys in and they put x amount together to go do it. And then, you know, good, I'm glad that I didn't sleep for all the years before then and got as much of a head as I possibly could, but that continues to surprise me. Um, I think that, you know, you're seeing a small trickling of talent come into the space. I think I have a lot of pride in the fact that, you know, that's something that's been important to us from the beginning.

Speaker 3: I think when we hired Damien, who's our director of cultivation and he was working for a subsidiary of Monsanto at the time. I'm running around North America, setting up greenhouses. Um, I think that, you know, that was like a cool, you know, that we got a guy like that and it was three and a half years ago or three years ago, something like that at the time, nobody was doing it right now you have more people from real industries coming but not in mass. So I think that continues to surprise me in regards to the space. When you said, speaking of people coming in, you said that you were suits coming in, where were you coming from? What were you doing before? Uh, before cannabis. So my, myself, I'm, you know, I'm that classic entrepreneur. The people around me are the classic Wall Street suits, right? So that's how I balance off the fact that I might not be the smartest or most a well healed, but I surround myself with people that are.

Speaker 3: But um, I, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, but before this I was running a branding design and construction company. That's how we got into the space when we were doing that. It was a decently successful business in Los Angeles and we were called by a lady who was running a pot shop on sunset boulevard. Um, and this is a story I tell a time. I love this story. I, uh, I knew nothing about the space. I didn't even know it existed. And, uh, I naively drove around la every day passing all the green crosses, not understanding what they were. And I walked into this sunset boulevard shop. It was 600 square feet to say it was disheveled or you know, a mass would be understating it, a and some lady with blue hair who was just completely out of her mind, told me what their revenue was and I didn't believe her.

Speaker 3: And I questioned her on it and she told me that's what they were doing, but they wanted to increase. And I left and I called my business partner. So we're getting into the pot business. So, um, that's how we got into the business. Uh, you know, the people around us, you know, our managing director of the fun and General Council. He was a securities lawyer, you know, doing traditional vanilla stuff, setting up funds and, and you know, representing funds that we're investing in traditional things. You know, our, our guy that runs capital strategy that runs our fund, he was doing stuff at a place called Alvarez and Marcel, which is a restructuring shop that did the Lehman wind down. I mean, you know, that's, that's who makes us up. Which again, you said at the beginning of the interview, maybe that makes us polarizing, but I don't think it should. I think it should be. That's encouraging, right? Don't we want people like that coming into our space and we want people like that, you know, helping to evolve our space to become what it needs to become, to be stable and permanent. So, or at least that's what I believe. So that, that that's who we are. I got to talk to that guy about that Lehman wind down. Well, he'd love to talk to you. He does like to talk. What has most surprised you in life, Adam?

Speaker 3: That's exactly why I asked these questions because they do make you think, you know, all the other answers off the top of your head. You know,

Speaker 3: I think what continues to surprise me most in life is that we all have the ability to reinvent ourselves and our reality on a minute by minute basis. And I think that far too few people take advantage of that a, but that is there and present. I think that's something you have to teach yourself. And that's something that I think I've really discovered over the last year or so and I try to be conscious of as much as I can, you know, what is, what is my reality, uh, and why is it that way? And do I like it or do I not like it? Are there things about it that I want to fix and I have the power to do all of those things. You know, I chose to wake up this morning in Las Vegas and come do this interview and, you know, be part of this, you know, a thousand person gathering, multi thousand person gathering at the Rio.

Speaker 3: Um, to talk about pot, right? I chose to do that. I don't have to do that, you know, I could go hang out with my kids and take them to the skate park today if I want it to. I have the power to make that decision. I'm making this decision and I'm making this decision for a bunch of reasons. I feel good about it and if I wake up tomorrow and I feel differently about something else, I have the ability to change it. I think that's, that's something that I wasn't raised to understand, something I've discovered. And so I think that's what surprised me the most in life, if you need to ask me that question, is that yeah, I have the ability to do what I want and make my life what I want it to be. And the question is what do I actually want it to be?

Speaker 3: Right. And today I'm very excited about what it is today and as long as I keep checking myself and asking myself that question and recognizing I have the ability to make those decisions, um, then I can, you know, at the end of the day, what are we all trying to do? We're all trying to be happy. Um, and I don't know necessarily if everybody wakes up every day understanding that, you know, I think if you ask most people, they say, well, what do you, why did you wake up today? Oh, to go to work. Why'd you wake up today? Oh, because my kids needed me to take them to school. But no, I mean we wake up every day and we make the decisions we make because we're trying to live a full and happy existence. So I'm discovering that was a surprise because it meant that I had the opportunity to go live a full and happy life in a way that I didn't necessarily understand what's possible before I made that discovery. So folks that,

Speaker 5: oh, have jobs where, you know, they have two jobs and three jobs and they do have to get out of bed and they do have to go to those jobs and they do have, they are being run by, you know, uh, the fact that they just have to put food on the table. That's not necessarily what you mean. Do you mean in my mind? How do you, you know, let me make sure we understand exactly what you're saying.

Speaker 3: Our reality is created by us and you know, I think that we have the power to create that reality to give us the most happiness. Um, you know, and I think that's a person by person kind of situation. You talking about people that have two jobs, there's people that have four jobs and they are happy as can be a, my father in law is 75 or six years old and he wakes up every morning and drives a roach coach food truck. Uh, you know, and he's been doing that route for 30 some odd years since he moved here from another country. Um, and he is one of the happiest people I've ever met in my life, but he wakes up every day and says, I want to wake up at four in the morning. I want to drive that truck, can't wait, I cannot wait and I will never retire.

Speaker 3: And I will do this six days a week. And an emmy, he misses, you know, kids' birthday parties. He misses, you know, a Khalid religious holidays. He just does it because that makes them happy. So this isn't about, you know, wealth and opportunity or white privilege or you know, we can get into all the politics that if you want to get into social stuff or buzzwords. Which buzzwords. Yeah. Um, this is really just, it's not about any of that. I think it cuts all of that is that we have a day. We make the decision when we wake up, how we're going to go exist in that day. And we exist within our reality. His, my father-in-laws reality was they had no money. He came here and he had to build a life for his family. You know, bringing them here from Argentina with nothing, you know, but he, he did it in a way that makes them happy and to this day he doesn't have to do it anymore, but he does it because it makes them happy.

Speaker 3: So, you know, when I wake up every day, you know, uh, I have a lot of decisions to make and I need to make those decisions in a way in which that make me happy, not necessarily because I feel forced to do it or I feel like society wants me to do it. Um, you know, I think, uh, uh, it had an interesting discussion with my wife the other day as we were riding bikes with our kids. I'm the Venice beach. We live, we live in Marina del Rey, but the Venice beach area and the interesting, you know, reflection we had is, you know, these are very, very expensive homes over there. And we didn't see one car, we didn't see one car parked, driving in a driveway anywhere attached to any of those homes that was, you know, over a $60,000 car. And it was really interesting, um, because, you know, these are some of the most expensive homes in the country, yet the people that lived there are driving, you know, the Prius, you know, or the, you know, whatever hybrid plugin this or that, or just, you know, driving everyday, regular cars, like regular people, they don't have to have the predict side.

Speaker 3: They don't have to have the pretense of driving 100,000 dollar car. And that was amazing because there's a whole community, right? That it wasn't like as a group they decided, but I, my, what I took away from that, it was that they came to that community. They bought those homes there, they moved there because that was the way they looked at happiness was they wanted to wake up every day on the beach. And those kinds of things made them happy in the material things, maybe less. So. I think it's just very interesting as you look at pockets of society and as you look at individuals as who's actively making those choices on a daily basis versus just reacting to what they think they're supposed to be doing when they wake up. So that has been my biggest surprise in life and that has been the most important thing that I've learned.

Speaker 3: Um, and that is, you know, the single most important reason that I find myself today, just a lady to be here talking to you on your podcast. I am also related to today to be talking to you on my podcast. The final question is on the soundtrack of your life named one track, one song that's got to be on there, a, m and M, lose yourself. Is there a key lyric from that? Is there a key line that you remember that stays current in your mind? Yeah, you only have one shot, um, you know, that line a do not miss your chance. Uh, you know, I think that that's a, you know, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime, right? That, that's the line. And I think for me, it's not just about this industry, but it's ended up culminating in my participation and my place in this industry is, you know, that's how I look at my life everyday when I wake up is you have one shot life to be over tomorrow. What did you do with that one opportunity to go live? Did you live proactively and thoughtfully or did you live reactively? Um, you know, just part of the herd if you will. Um, so you have one shot to not miss your chance. And I think, you know, for me and with cannabis and the timing of how it came to be a part of my and how we made the decision

Speaker 6: to go all in and really make this business our life and the success that we've had in the success

Speaker 7: for, to continue to have. This is our one shot and we will not, I will not miss this opportunity. Let's go. I've got another 10 years with no sleep and I love it out of Bierman. Thanks.

Speaker 1: This episode is supported by Focus. Focus is working on independent and international standards, small offering, third party certifications, cannabis businesses, foundation of cannabis unified standards helps build your business into the best and can be focused is not a regulatory agency so they don't engage in enforcement. Rather deal organization has in place to help improve operational efficiencies, decrease operating expenses, and ultimately increased profit focus will help you build your business in a sustainable way. Guarding against risk and liability all while protecting your Ip. Go to focus. Standard, stopped or beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. I learned that from you. I think Tim Smith's, you'd probably,

Speaker 6: he didn't fall into a trump trap. Oh, trump trap Nevada. You want to correct all our politicians will still with. Yeah. I feel like we'll do that at the end if we have time. But, uh, yeah, no, no, it's not Nevada here. I mean everybody says Nevada here. Everybody. Where's that from? Do you think? Uh, I don't know. I'm not here to question that. Uh, I mean I'm, I'm, I guess I'm considered local after being here for 20 years. You're definitely local, but I'm not really a local. I wasn't born here, so can you name three people that were born here? No, no, no. See your local enough. I'm local enough. Exactly where A. Well, let's do it right away. Where, where were you 20 years prior to now? Uh, born and raised in southern California. So you're cool southern California guy? Yes. Right. Did you serve when you're a kid?

Speaker 6: A body surfed on the beach. When I, um, I took a surfing lesson. I'm not an athlete, which, uh, does not surprise anyone who has seen me. Um, but, uh, I took a surfing lesson in southern California, I believe is on Manhattan Beach Beach, right? I'm from New York, so it's felt like it should be home. And um, the first time I went into the water, the ocean through me directly onto the beach, immediately forcefully. Uh, and then I went back in. I was like, Oh sure, let me just try this. Nope, just right back out on the beach. And I thought to myself, you know what? Maybe the ocean doesn't want me or need me in there and maybe I don't need to be in there or want to be in there either. You know what I mean? I do know what you mean, but you're in a bigger.

Speaker 6: You're built bigger than me though. Slightly. And, and once you get used to that power of holding your breath for two minutes. Sure. Good. Yeah. The undertow. You learn how to, how to do that. One day I'll take you to the wedge. I feel like you can go straight on, pound yourself right into the sand. I can. That sounds like it. And then maybe we'll get a wedge salad at lunch afterwards. That should have been quicker. But so southern California born and raised type of thing where we're in southern, comes in, in the good old Osi, orange county. Costa Mesa. Okay. And you know, will Ferrell's from there, right? Yes. I did know that. And so it's just pristine and beautiful and quiet flat. Yes. Right. Is that about right? That's about right. And we're close to the beach. Some people would say it's boring there.

Speaker 6: It can be boring, but you know, it just depends on who you hang out with. Were you hanging out with will or. No, no, no. I hanged out with him. Hung out with a boring crowd. Most definitely because you're a smart guy. You're like this business guy. You're one of these real people that we have in the industry real as you can get, you know, some people would call you a suit. I am a suit and, and, and in my day I would, I would never go near cannabis ever, ever. And if you ever talked to any of my friends back then they would look at me and go that there's not a chance in how he's in that industry so way possible. We definitely want to have this conversation. So no way you're going into the industry where you, were, you starkly against it, were you, were you one of the people that was a, that would think, you know, what are you doing, you know, taking the candidate.

Speaker 6: Like were you anti it for me or was it just I'm not going to do well? I was raised anti for me for sure. Um, you know, never touched that stuff. It's a hardcore drug and will lead to, to problems and uh, you'd never want to do that. That's how I was raised. Got It. As I got older, um, it just became, they're doing that. That's fine. I became more tolerant to everything I would say. Sure. As, as you do. Yes. Right. And where did you go to school? Uh, uh, for university I went to Loyola Marymount, university of good Catholic school. So not a lot of weed at Loyola Marymount or am I wrong? Well, not that I was involved with. I got, I mean, people knew who, I mean I wasn't a teetotaler so you know, I consumed alcohol and stuff like that and people knew who I was and respected that.

Speaker 6: They just never offered sports. Were you into sports because that's a good sports program. I was a, I played college volleyball for two years. Look at that. There's the height, there's a height, but it was only because of height. I mean, I wasn't a great athlete. I was just a big galoot. Right. Tim, stand there. Raise your hands. That's right. Jumped inappropriate. Yes, blocker ball please. And you can do that. I was good at that. That's the only thing I was good at the literally built for it. When the Olympics come around, do you pay attention? I mean, you know what's going on? Oh yeah, of course. I follow it. It's a love of mine. The, those people. I mean that is fun to watch during the Olympics. I never get a chance to watch it when it's not on during the Olympics, but the men, the women, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 6: Uh, you, you probably loved the beach ball. The. Oh, the beach volleyball. I was talking about indoor when you're talking about indoor people love the beach post without saying that there. That's a lot of fun. Yes, absolutely. But the Americans lost though this time. Well, yeah, but they competed. I mean it's, it's what they're supposed to win every time. That's what we Americans think and do, right? Yeah. I think they're pretty proud of the brands that they got. They did a good job with a new team. Right? It's a new partner. Yeah. New Team, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so you're at Loyola Marymount, you're playing volleyball, you're blocking shots. It's amazing. Um, business school, business school. Okay. And did you know what you wanted to do or did? Were you like a young person saying, I'm going to be a businessman? No, I was always interested in entrepreneurship.

Speaker 6: Okay. Was Your father an entrepreneur? I always grew up in a family business. What did he get himself into? As much as you want it to flow, we're just, uh, he, he did furniture a whole, our retail and manufacturing and um, I actually did my first sales for him when I was eight years old. First lessons learned as eight year old Tim Smith's. What? Uh, what did you have for us? What did you learn immediately? Well, first of all, I learned how to clean toilets and uh, because I, I salesperson go clean the toilet. Well, I had to do the menial work because I was the owner son. Right. And so all the way to the bottom, all the way to the bottom right, clean the toilets, clean the buildings, the parking lots because you know, I was always paid less than did more. Sure how it was brought up.

Speaker 6: That's great. That is a great lesson, you know, because then the workers around you, at least the folks that are paying attention that want to pay attention can see, okay, the kids worth is kind of gone. He eats, he's gay. He's doing, he's paying his dues. Right? See, I think that. Yeah. So some of them appreciated, some of them didn't. But what are you going to do as, you know, as we discussed walking in here, 50 percent of the people didn't vote. Twenty five for him. Twenty five for her. You can't always get everybody. You know what I mean? No, he says cheap labor. And that's the reality of it. My father was a smart businessman. He like free, free is better than you. Definitely. And, and with loyalty for. When did it turn into sales? When were you allowed to pick up the phone or knock on a door?

Speaker 6: Well, uh, for our family business that didn't happen until I was probably 29 years old. Oh, okay. So he did, he kept you off the front lines for a long time. Yeah. And then I got a, got a, uh, an easy catch here and easy to catch there, you know, if it was busy, I'd start talking to somebody and, and really that's how I made my first sale. I said, Oh yeah, you know, by these bookcases, and I sold them to the guy and the guy goes, oh yeah, come, come, bring me over to, to write it up. And they said, Oh, you know, the salesman came up and he said, you already know what you want. And he goes, yeah, this kid sold me everything I want done. Right. So she was selling without even knowing you recess. Um, and that's, I guess the best kind of salesperson.

Speaker 6: Right. So the best kind because it comes from the heart. This is passionate. Right. And that's it. And you believed in the furniture. I did, I knew all about it and I believed in it because it was our life. You had the information? Yes. Alright, so you had the information, the passion, and you were okay talking to somebody. Of course. All right, so you sold it. This teenage kids sold a things but a 29 then you're actually in doing stuff. Yes. And what, what, what kind of responsibilities were given to you? So, so then it was, we were in commercial real estate. Oh, okay. So then the business had switched? Yes. Okay. Finally, my father allowed me to make decisions and I thought that was the greatest thing in the world until you realize that those decisions, yes, all the weights on your shoulders and you can't say, well you made the decision, you know, it's, it's, it's your responsibility not to make the right decision.

Speaker 6: Do you remember the epiphany? Do you remember the moment of. Oh, Oh God, yes. I remember that moment. How much can you share with us? Well, for me that was a turning point in my life, um, because my father had actually passed away at that point. Sorry to hear that. Yes. So it was really to all the way into the world was just, it. On my shoulders. And you're never prepared for that. Right? So the good thing about it was probably for two or three years leading up to that point, uh, my father had started slowly giving me responsibility. Right. And then all of a sudden just everything was my responsibility. So I have a different take on that. My mom passed away when I was 30 and it was at that moment that I realized that I was an adult. Obviously in your twenties you kind of come around, but it was like the, the, the reality of, of life and death.

Speaker 6: And then my kind of responsibility on earth became very apparent. Yes. And yours came with actual, with a business and consequences and real business consequences without question for sure. Um, so, so what, uh, you know, how'd you make it out of that, you know, obviously you're swimming upstream to begin with, uh, you know, so, uh, initially it was just survival and then, um, and then of course, uh, you know, then then it's survival and growth and then, and then survival again because then came the great recession. Sure. And before we get to that, because that's recent that it happened yesterday. Yeah. So, uh, you know, uh, as far as the timeline of your life, um, you know, when, when you're, when you're, you know, survival, you said survival. That that is how you got through it. But what does that actually mean? You know, when, when, you know, when push comes to shove, what are the biggest lessons?

Speaker 6: Because a lot of folks that listen to this are in absolute survival mode right now. They have make it, made the jump. They've made the leap there in the cannabis industry, both feet. They got maybe a grow over here, maybe a retail operation may be an ancillary business, you know, and I'm in all the way and I need to be swimming as fast as possible right now so that I don't drowned. Um, w what were those key lessons to like get yourself to a point where you're treading water and actually, you know, kind of breathing a little bit easier. So, so the, the, I think the key lesson is that there's a lot of highs and a lot of lows. And um, you know, not getting too excited about the high highs and not getting too down about the low lows and, and overcoming the lows and to like a balancing out the highs because it's, it's especially in cannabis, it's fast moving.

Speaker 6: I mean, compared to real estate, real estate is a snail compared it to cannabis, right? So for us, for me, I learned the high highs and low lows in a slow manner in real estate and now I've been able to apply that to cannabis where you have those probably on a biweekly, sure type of easily have a application. And, and you know, in, in cannabis you're always looking for the next opportunity. It's just the market is changing so quickly and you're always looking for the next dollar, the next investor. And then the next great partner, really a great partner will come back to, uh, the, the low lows. You know, you get hit in the face, knocked down to the ground, you dust yourself off, you get up, you keep going. I think for, for most entrepreneurs, they know that just viscerally they do that. I'm not going too high on the highs though.

Speaker 6: Well, you know, as far as celebrating the wins, how do I balance that out? Where's the [inaudible] that that's a tougher thing to do, right? Yeah. I don't know that we've even, I don't know that we've had a chance to celebrate the wins. I mean, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's the wind still isn't there. I don't think it's the, the winds are small and, and we haven't got to the point where we have like the clear win, right, of, of being able to operate in an environment that's reasonable. I mean, in our environment with the federal guy, uh, the federal, um, liabilities and everything else, it's just not a reasonable environment. We're instilling craziness. So, so, so let's, before we get to business, let's do that. Uh, that great recession thing, you know, you okay, fine. You, you, uh, you balance your highs, you balanced your lows, you're running a business, you're doing it successfully, you're in real estate, everything's okay.

Speaker 6: Um, and then here comes the economic apocalypse, right? How much for warning did you have? Because some folks in real estate kind of knew that it was soft to begin with. Right. So, so, um, what, what, where we were as far as real estate is, we were very conservative. Yeah. So we weren't over leveraged. So that's another thing you would look at, okay, if you're very conservative real estate and now you're doing this cannabis thing, that's just the total opposite spectrum. Right? Right. Yeah. Um, why would you even be in cannabis? It's just a unique opportunity that will probably never come along for another hundred years. Right. So I'm going back to the entrepreneurship, you know, when I studied entrepreneurship and, and studied, um, you know, great leaders and entrepreneurship is, you realize that there are certain on a opportunities just come around once in a lifetime and you have to jump on that boat and be all in.

Speaker 6: So, so this was year one of those guys that uh, here comes the recession and then. Oh wait, hold on one second. What's this thing? What's this thing is, right? That's right. So we established earlier that you have absolutely no experience whatsoever with the plan. Correct. As a person, as a person, as a business opportunity, you saw it. Um, when did you, when did those two kind of concepts meet? When did you realize what exactly this product was or is? Um, so wow, that's a, that's a, that's a huge question because there's this perception of the product to us getting you high. Right. And that was my perception early on, right? Uh, but the, the reality of the product is there so many other things that it can do for a person, for its body, for its soul and to, for an economy, for everything. Right? So that took me probably maybe nine months in until I really realized that the benefits just beyond the high and, and that was a really a true turning point for me.

Speaker 6: And that's when the passion began, right? Initially it was just to make money. Sure. Right. I was in to make money and then let me get the information. Yeah, we've got the information and then, oh, whoops. By mistake, now I have passion on the right. And it's like, wow, you know, there's, there's so many things, uh, that can be done with cannabis and, and so many lives that can be changed for the better and it's in. And then it became being joining with what I call like the cultural guys, the guys that were, have been in for years and years and years that the deserve a bulk of the credit. Sure. For Cannabis. Sure. But, you know, as a suit, right? And understanding that you seek information to know how to run your business. There isn't a ton of research, definitive research that shows, you know, what cannabis does for crones that shows what cannabis does for Ms.

Speaker 6: that shows what it does. How do you know that? Why do you know that, you know, for folks that are in your boat that, hey, look, I looked down, I've got a suit on. I'm not in the cannabis industry right now, but somebody told me to listen to this after Tuesday. So I was, I was super fortunate because we're a partner with, um, with Charlotte's web, the Stanley brothers and kind of, uh, you know, I, I went out and visited them and I had heard of Charlotte for a long time to meet Charlie. Oh yeah. Yeah. And, and Charlotte, I mean, it's amazing. So what happened for me was, uh, I was invited to Charlotte Tome and able to spend time with her and you know, if you meet someone like Charlotte, a little girl like that and what's really unique about Charlotte and I don't know that a lot of people go that is, she has a twin.

Speaker 6: So got to see what Charlotte's should have been and what Charlotte is. Right. And had Charlotte had the, had the cannabis medicine earlier, you know, she was probably very much closer to her twin sister, you know, even with the disease and we will take up and walking around, running around, smiling sometimes having fun as opposed to season constantly and uh, and basically on, on life support. Exactly, exactly that. And, and so I, I had the opportunity of seeing her. I'm in a six month period twice and I actually saw improvement benefits in the improvement in her, you know, it was incredible. It is amazing. I'm getting a little choked up so we're going to have to move along a to business to, uh, exactly. So you said, okay, now I'm going to take a chance in this thing. How did you actually, you know, uh, find where you are with, uh, with the company that you have in other words, you know, where did you get the license?

Speaker 6: How did you partner up all that? So, um, I was very fortunate. I had a good friend at the time, Brian Padgett who had connections in Nevada and um, and I would have never applied for the license myself, but Brian felt that we could get a license. Our goal originally was just to get a cultivation license and kind of what we developed was a team, you know, we brought in, uh, the Stanley brothers. We bought it in Charlotte Web. We brought in a ton of other consultants and um, and we built this bigger and bigger team that allowed us to get more and more licenses and build a bigger and bigger business. Now I know from talking to you on and offline, you know, over the couple years that it's been, which in a, of course a cannabis. Here's this dog here. So we've known each other for about 15 years.

Speaker 6: Yes. At least. Exactly. Could be good. Close to Tony. Um, it's not a, how can I say this? It's not been easy at all in Nevada and you know, without going through the painstaking details, you know, folks that are in the space and have been running businesses understand how difficult it is a, it is in some respects just running a business. But then there's also curveballs consistently. What would you like to share with that? I'll just leave it open like that curve balls. Sure. That we've faced. Um, so, so our initial curve ball was, um, when we were going for licensing with Clark County, um, the, the morning of the licensing with Clark County, there was a newspaper article written about us that was entirely skewed against us as far as, um, maybe some donations we had made and stuff like that that morning when I read that article, I mean I was probably at a low, low, low point in my stomach was turned.

Speaker 6: I'd invested already a substantial amount of money in the company and maybe felt that opportunities were lost, right? Um, what basically pulled that pulled us through. That was the fact that we had great team members. I mean our presentations were fantastic and when we finally gotten in front of the commissioners, you know, we overwhelmed them with what we could do and the potential we could bring. Right. And um, and that really overcame, came that, that one newspaper article, but there's a ton of newspaper articles, a ton of curve balls that hit you all the time. You just don't know where they're coming from, but you really have to have a strong, stronger organization are really good business plan and to stick to it, stick to the vision, and that's really critical now. I mean, how much harder than a, you with your father passing away and that business being put into your hands, you just explained how difficult it was, you know, conceptually compare how difficult that was to what you have been dealing with over the past couple of years here in Nevada.

Speaker 6: In cannabis. Yeah. There's, there's no comparison. I mean, we are talking about real estate being slow moving. Um, cannabis is, is moving at the speed of light and the development of the products of what's happening, um, with, with the local municipalities, making laws, the state, the federal. I mean, I, I could figure out a, the real estate business and land on my feet and 60 days and, and be, be basically on track, um, with our own family business vision at the time while in cannabis it seems like you're always off balance. There's, there's never a time that you can get comfortable. And the second you think you can get comfortable, you'll be thrown off balance again. So just don't get balances right. It's just, it's not worth it because you're missing something. You're missing something. Is it? Are you talking about. I'm sure you're talking about a combination of all of the following, which is competitions, regulations, just the speed of the pace of innovation.

Speaker 6: It, it's all of those things. Am I missing anything though? Uh, well, I, I think the key thing is in cannabis is everything will cost more and take longer than you think. You cannot possibly write a business plan that will predict the future of cannabis. It's just doesn't happen. And, and you know, you go by the old standard practices of, of a forecasting and cutting the forecast and half and half again, well, you know, you might as well add triple the costs and cut the forecast three times until you get up and running and, and cash flow gets running. It's just, it's probably the hardest thing you could possibly do. Now, the way you just presented that, it sounds hyperbolic, but it's not. It's not. You're not being, you're not exaggerating is my point. No. And what's crazy about it is you're, you're selling a product that's been around for thousands of years before Jesus, right?

Speaker 6: And you think it's really simple, but it's, it, it's so difficult to navigate, you know, all the different, you know, everything but the law, the laws, the rules that the, um, the innovation from competitors, the changing market place, you know, it's just, it's so fast moving. Some of that has to do it. So you mentioned pace of innovation and that is fast for this industry. No matter what, um, you, you mentioned though regulations and the changing market as far as the consumer is concerned in a lot of that has to do with, of course the fact that it was, you know, I'm pro, uh, it was under prohibition, uh, for, for hundreds of years, um, uh, for us 80, um, and with it being a prohibited for 80 years, you have a consumer base that doesn't understand what the plan is and you have regulators from each state really kind of nervous about what the plant can do and what it doesn't do.

Speaker 6: And what it does do and what it should do and what our rules should be. Um, do you ever think philosophically about, oh, well, if we didn't make that wrong turn, you know, with the Harry Anslinger, you know, all the way back when, um, this would be a lot easier. You know, I'd only have to be dealing with technological innovation basically, or do you not? What, can't you early on I did. But the thing is that in this industry, tomorrow brings a new opportunity. So, so really is, is the past is really the past and you always have to be looking forward, staying optimistic and be willing to listen and grasp the new opportunity that's coming down the line. I mean, it's just, just the way you have to do it. There's so much change. So the new opportunity would then be adult use. It was a vote as in um, you know, you have your, uh, medical, um, facility and business plan up and running.

Speaker 6: Um, and when I spoke to you before the vote, you said we got to be ready for either scenario. So here's the scenario. I think God, well it's going to be a life saver for our industry, um, again, because it's taken longer and we've spent more money now the opportunity is to just a massive, especially in Las Vegas where you have, you know, 40 to 50 million tourists coming in a year and where the concentration of tourism is unlike any other place in the world quite frankly. Yeah. So are, are you now that we are in this reality, what are your forecasts, you know, without giving us, I'm kind of proprietary information. Four x five, like what are you expecting just as far as demand with the fact that everyone on earth comes to Las Vegas to have a good time in cannabis as part of that, when you talk about adult use?

Speaker 6: Well, the market is at least 10 times greater than two medical use and I think that the way I look at Nevada as, I think it's a huge opportunity for the industry as a whole because we have this, this tourism base, and I, and you know, I don't know the exact percentages, but if you look at adults in the United States, over 50 percent of them have consumed at one time, yet I think it's less than eight percent of adults are consumers, right? So, so most people have tried, you know, cannabis when they were younger and um, and, and for a lot of people it's just they don't use cannabis now because of the illegality of it. They're not going to call the guy exactly. They're not going to call the guy. So the opportunity of, of Vegas is, and the analogy I use is kind of vegas I see as kind of a flower right?

Speaker 6: And Pun intended, no pun intended. There's a ton of funds in this industry, but as, as the flower and I see the tourist is kind of the bees, right? And, and, and you can come from a market, let's say, um, I dunno, uh, what's a good conservative market in the south, maybe Alabama or something like that. Let's go with Montgomery, Alabama, and, and you've tried cannabis when you're young and you come into to Las Vegas and you get an option, right? And, and it's different than the flower that you'd see on the street. I mean, it's highly regulated. It tastes good. There's, there's tons of different options as far as, you know, maybe getting high but also to feeling healthy. And, and so what will happen is you'll come here, you have the opportunity to try some, um, in a, in an environment that's safe and legal, and you'll go back to Alabama and you'll say, look at my, my experience was good.

Speaker 6: Let's bring this to Alabama. There's really not a bad thing anymore or a reason not to. There's no reason not to. Yeah. And, and that's the opportunity for Vegas, for the industry as a whole. Yeah. It's, it's, it's to show people around the world for that matter. Japanese, Chinese, you know that, that cannabis is good. There's a place for it in our society. I mean, it's crazy to me to think that a big portion of the worldwide population, adult population might consume alcohol, which is really poisonous to your body and cannabis is really healthy for your body and you have the ability to recreate or relax a healthy way and, and, and that opportunity is, is, is huge for, for Nevada and a particular vegas to spread the word. Vegas has woken up and found out that it's the eyes of the world. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 6: It really has the opportunity not bad. So that's exciting. It's very exciting. And I feel like, um, you know, we, we kind of talked a little bit about your thoughts as cannabis as medicine. We've talked about Charlotte and we talked about. I mean, what's, what's fun for me is you're an admitted suit as we said. Yeah. And to hear your passionate, to see your face change when you talk about cannabis and the fact that you actually see the value in the plant where you have come one 80, you know, 100 percent, one 80, you know, is. I mean, I almost feel guilty to think that, to know that I thought the way I did right. And, and everybody who comes one 80 should realize that we've been punishing a big portion of society for no reason, for no reason, no reason. Yes. Interesting. Made US worse off.

Speaker 6: How so? Let me, let me continue then, or let me, let me continue. It's made us worse off in so many ways, but what do you mean? Well, you know, the whole war on drugs, uh, the, you know, the resources that have been spent fighting something that doesn't necessarily need to be fought, right? The lack of research. I mean, the fact that cannabis. I'm a mentor of mine and a person I have a ton of respect for Matt Cook. Oh sure. You know, he says when, when I went originally was introduced to Matt and went on on Matt Tours, right? Um, one of the things that he says that I truly believe in is that if you are walking through the rain forest today and Matt and, and cannabis was discovered as a new new plant, it would be a miracle drug. The miracle drug, it would be the aspirin, right?

Speaker 6: There's so many applications to better our health, right? To better the future of all people. This is crazy. Right? And, and what's amazing to me is, is, um, when you talk about strains of cannabis and things like that, some of the most valuable strains that you could find our strains that, that haven't been cross bred for like 40 or 50 years, the true, true strains. That's where the industry is looking now because they're pure, they haven't been crossbred over and over and over. And, and to find some of those are amazing, right? That the true genetics. And, and when they start producing those, the health benefits of those are going to be immense. I spoke to Mowgli Holmes who is mapping the, the cannabis genome and uh, you know, he'll, he'll be working alongside the industry to find exactly that and here we go. So, you know, we, you know, we, we've known each other for a couple of years now and you are, you know, really pointing out the fact that we have not even begun halfway.

Speaker 6: No, we haven't even, we haven't scratched the surface of the potential of cannabis and I mean it's, it's to change the world's future. I really believe that. How quickly do you think that's going to happen? Understanding that you're not into prognosticating and understanding that a prognostication has suffered a setback reasonably just generally, what do you know as far as global kind of acceptance of the fact that there's potential here, you know, not necessarily, you know, a worldwide reckoning, but yeah, at least. Um, okay, let's, let's actually get going here worldwide. What do you think? So, so, uh, an initial prediction I would make, what I tell people is that I believe that in your multivitamin, vitamin like your centrum, your basic multivitamin, you'll have a cbd in your multivitamin within five years. That's, that's the kind of thing we were looking for. That's perfect. Yes.

Speaker 6: And I, I think probably, you know, the, the, considering globalization, how things move today, probably 50 years for, for cannabis, the worldwide. Yeah, I mean if you look at, if you go back in history, that's the only thing we have. And how long did it take movements to go from east to west? I mean, it now, just things fly through with the Internet and the information we have. So 50 years is probably realistic. Yeah. And hopefully extremely conservative. Well, hopefully. I mean, the world will be a better, better place. That's silly. Yeah. Uh, so we've, we've come to the three final questions, tim. Uh, I'll tell you what they are and then I'll ask you them in order. The first is, what has most surprised you in cannabis? What has most surprised you in life? And then finally on the soundtrack of your life, one track, one song that's gotta be on there.

Speaker 6: Oh Jesus. So that's sometimes the hardest one. But. And you might've already answered the first one. What has most surprised you in cannabis? Uh, the medical benefits. I mean, the health benefits for everybody. Yeah. Yes. I mean there's just so many. And you can choose to answer this or not. Uh, you know, as, as we've gone here, have you partaken in cannabis since? Never. I have not. So I've partaken in CBD. Okay. But I've never consumed thc still still. And, and that'll change a, probably soon are you, are you waiting for your production to be, give you adult use in a legal capacity before you do that? Or because I can, I can go get my medical license and I've, because of, of playing college sports, I have. Your knees are probably right. So I have legitimate issues to get my medical license. For me honestly it was, I have so much invested, right?

Speaker 6: It was always the fear of being caught. So, so, you know, I was always concerned about, you know, getting caught and losing licenses now, uh, there's options to do it right. And I don't have to have that fear anymore. So, so soon. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And it surprises the hell out of people. Right. And, and one of the things, you haven't yet been a habit and one of the things I being around so many cultural people is I really have to be honest with them initially because I'm offered all the time. Right? And they're like, I'm talking to you about cannabis and you've never partaken in, in thc. But, but what's really amazing about is, is there's a lot of respect in that also, without question, just, you know, being honest with people and telling them they respect that, which is great in this industry.

Speaker 6: Well, you know, it should go for everybody that honesty is the best policy. It is. Yes. So, what has most surprised you in life? Wow. Um, I don't know. I get surprised in life a lot. Still still because I think, um, your perceptions when you're a younger change and, and they're, they're certainly not the same as you become the old guy. What I'm becoming quickly, um, I think what surprised me in life the most is that the values that can go back to like Jesus his time treating people, right? I'm the golden rule. I think that they're, they're really true, right? I think that, um, when it, when adversity hits, if you followed those rules, I think that they benefit you the most and, and you get challenged, right? Because you see people doing things, you know, um, that aren't necessarily within that realm and you think they're there, they're getting ahead of you.

Speaker 6: But the reality is over time it all balances out. So the second time you've named checked JC, if you will, uh, his faith, something that you hold dear. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, not, not particularly. I mean, I, I believe, but I don't believe I'm not a, I don't go to church every Sunday or anything like that. But there are some good learnings. Yes. I think there's value in not only what Jesus or Mohammed or you know, anybody there's value in all religion. I think when you get radical that's becomes the problem. We can. We can talk about that for another 50 minutes. No, absolutely. But I would love for everybody to join us here in the middle. The middle is a great place to be. It really. Come on in. The water's fine. Yes. On the soundtrack of your life. Tim Smith's name, one track, one song that's got to be on there. It would have to be a jump by Van Halen. Oh, look at you. You. It's amazing. And that's of course David Lee Roth, a van Halen. That's the original original van Halen. Is that. That's off 19 a 1994 was the album of what? Uh, what, uh, which album was that running with the devil? No, no it wasn't it 1984 was called 19 anything. So I'm not a music aficionados, so. But that was in Spandex is what you're saying now. Here's two rock'n'roll Tim Smith's. I appreciate it. Thanks. So thank you. And there you have Tim Smith's

Speaker 1: and at the top Adam Bierman to businessmen. Clearly two business men also to industry advocates, clearly to industry advocates. They go hand in hand with cannabis. So very much appreciate the time I had with both of them and very much appreciate the time that I have with you. Thanks so much for listening.

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